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I’m not a doctor or anything but it seems to me that it would be better to go ahead and have the major surgery. It seems to me that there is still a chance he is going to have pain in the elbow. I’d rather him miss 1 or 2 months in the beginning than need it in May or something and miss the rest of the ’09 season.

Why does AP think it’s better to play through pain than to have the surgery early and reduce the stress on the elbow? Is it, in fact, better to wait? Is that what the doctors are saying? If so. Why? It seems like the earlier you fix a problem, the less likely it would be for the injury to recurr or cause further complications.

Cards designated Phelps for re-assignment today and removed him from 40 man roster. They signed Manning a LH reliever from the Nationals. I think he was 1-3 ERA over 5.00 but held lefties to about a .215 BA. No big move but maybe some LH pen help. I don’t see Villone coming back.

from what I understand, TJ surgery is mainly for correction of tendon destruction in the elbow joint – from the reports here and around – I don’t believe that Albert had tendon destruction, but nerve ” agitation?” with bone spurs.

He’s had this injury since 2003 right? If so, that means he’s eventually going to need the surgery in order to fix the problem, not just to relieve pain. I think the reason he had surgery to relieve pain is to be able to play next season. He’s been playing just fine with the injury for about 5 years now, last year the pain was at it’s worst, and this year it didn’t get any better or any worse, so he had surgery to relieve some of the pain, that way he could play next season with less pain.

Cards are a longshot at Peavy. That deal would likely take Rasmus, Perez and Anderson to pull off, thus definitely not worth it. Good call by Mo to sit it out, but any time you miss a pitcher like Peavy, it stings. I still feel like the best deal we can make this offseason is no deal at all, and simply sign a guy like Hudson and some LHRP. The Marlins are shopping their closer, which may be worth looking into as a short term solution until Chris Perez fills out.

Wood just told the Cubs he is going to look at free agency. Could he be the one year closer the Cards need while grooming Motte/Perez? I know they say he wants a longer contract, but freeing up $11M from Izzy leaves the Cards a lot of room to work in.

Can anyone possibly tell me why we would trade Ludwick for Holliday? I know Holliday is a fantastic player but to make a deal for an outfielder that put up less in terms of power numbers and costs 10 times the amount of Ludwick without addressing the issues of all the other positions on the field that they need and using up at least a third of the payroll flexibility (not to mention if they resign him), isn’t real appealing to me. I would love to see Pujols then Holliday in the lineup, but I would also like to see us get a big time 2nd or ss, reliable left handed reliever and look for another starter cuz I know I’m sure not banking on Carp being 100%

Well, first…Do you REALLY think Ryan Ludwick is going to be able to repeat last year’s numbers?? Last year was a career year for a former career minor-leaguer. While it’s possible he will still be pretty good, it’s not likely or a given. Matt Holliday, on the other hand, has proven that he can do it more than once. Lud hasn’t yet proven he can maintain that level of play for longer than a season. Plus, if you think about it, Lud is the kind of guy that could thrive in Colorado. How many warning-track shots did he hit last year? Those fly on out in Colorado. I think it would be a great trade. I’d also like to see us make more of a push for Jake Peavey or AJ Burnett. But Mo will sit on his hands and watch our division rivals continue to sign quality pitching, while we continue to sign reclamation projects. I am frustrated with our current ownership. They suck! Their biggest concern is the bottom line. Not the success of the team.

Do I think that Lud can put up the same numbers?? I have no reason to think otherwise. He had one full season and got a chance and showed what he could do. As much as he doesn’t have the credentials to prove that he will do that again you can’t say that he won’t. Also if your going to talk about all of his balls that could go out in Coors, does that mean that Holliday won’t hit as many as a Cardinal without the luxury of Coors? I would love to see Holliday behind Pujols but not at the expense of Lud’s offense. I would rather see Ankiel go and bring Rasmus up. IF this kid is so dang good and untouchable then it’s time to see what he has. I’m tired of hearing about his “potential” I would love to see the cards keep Izturis, his defense is irreplaceable and his bat was decent. Get a big time bat at 2nd. Get a stud left hander for the Pen and go after Burnett, Lowe, Dempster or someone like that and not “hope” that our Ace will be ok. We won’t get Peavy, he costs too much in propects, and I can’t complain too much about them not wanting to do that as long as we plan on giving them a chance on our team. But if we want to fill all of these holes and they are “holes” then Holliday isn’t the option because of his cost. and lets not forget Pujols is due for a BIG BIG time payday in the near future.

Well I guess it’s just a matter of opinion. I think we can afford to get Holliday and still go after a second baseman and starter. Don’t forget we have a lot of money coming off the books this year. We’re not the Royals. We can afford it if management is willing. As for Ankiel I agree. Trade him for Holliday if not Lud. Ankiel is an amzing talent, but he’s injury prone. If Rasmus still isn’t ready we have Skip for now.
I think Ludwick is good, and I understand your point. But I don’t see anything in Lud that makes me think he will stay healthy for a whole year AND put up those numbers again. I think about other players like Abraham Nunez, who had a great year and a half here, then signed a big deal in Philly. But in Philly he never had another great year like he did here. Some guys go other places, some stay here or get demoted. Hector Luna, Joe McEwing, Bo Hart, so far…Chris Duncan, and there are others. I’m not down on Luddy. I’m just don’t think he’s better than Matt Holliday.

I would love to get Matt Holliday, but only if we sign him to an extension. I’d rather stick with 3 years of Ludwick, if he can repeat what he did in the ’08 season over 1 year of Holliday. If we get Holliday and sign him to an extension, that’s great, then we can trade Ankiel for Kelly Johnson, if the Braves would except that deal. Then we can trade Kennedy for whoever the Washington Nationals are willing to give in return, I’d like to get left handed reliever Mike Hinckley, he only appeared in 14 games and 13.2 innings, and in that time he struck out 9 and walked 3, without giving up an earned run. I’d also like to see the Cardinals resign Lopez. And finally sign Brad Penny and Chad Cordero from free agency. Here’s what the batting order would look like, depending on whether Rasmus is ready or not. CF-Colby Rasmus, 2B-Kelly Johnson, 1B-Albert Pujols, RF-Matt Holliday, 3B-Troy Glaus, C-Yadier Molina, LF-Joe Mather, Pitchers Spot, SS-Edgar Renteria. Bench: Utility-Felipe Lopez, IF-Aaron Miles, C-Jason LaRue, OFer’s-Brian Barton & Chris Duncan (That way we have some left handed power on the bench). SP-Chris Carpenter (hopefully healthy), Adam Wainwright, Brad Penny, Kyle Lohse, Todd Wellemeyer. RP: Long Relief Pitcher-Joel Pineiro/Brad Thompson, Middle Relief Pitchers-Ryan Franklin, Kyle McClellan, Charlie Manning/Mike Hinckley, Set Up Pitchers-Chris Perez/Jason Motte/Josh Kinney, Tyler Johnson, Closer-Chad Cordero.

The / between names means that that spot is not set, the player that performs the best in spring training can take the spot, others will be sent down to the minors in order to work on tuning their pitching a bit more. And I’d like to get Renteria on a 1 year deal, with the hope Tyler Greene is ready by 2010.

And please SLForre77, lets try to be respectful towards one another, I know in the past we’ve had our fights and I want to leave that in the past. Only reason I get so upset is because at times I feel as if you’re disrespecting management or a player. I feel as if our management is doing a good job quite often, and people only see the bad things they do and overlook the good.

And this is to Frank on the regards of signing Wood. I’d be willing to sign him to a 2-3 year deal, if we did indeed sign him at all, but would only guarantee him the closers job for 1 year, letting Perez/Motte take over after that year is up, while he moves to a different spot in the bullpen like long relief, middle relief, or set up. But if, and only if we don’t invest too much money into him.

Don’t get me wrong if there is someway we can fit Holliday and his 13+ million in the payroll and still fix everything else then I’m in! I would just much rather give Ankiel and a prospect or something. Pujols I don’t agree that to fix our bullpen and rotation we should sign Penny and Cordero…If this was 3 years ago I would be all over it, but I think with that move we just get ourselves into the Mulder/Clement situation again where we hope they can be healthy and effective for a season and they both have proven to be HUGE health risks. I think we keep Izturis and try get a big time 2nd basemen..ala orlando hudson type. Get a steady veteran lefty and let Motte and Perez figure out who deserves the closer role. I would rather resign Looper then get Penny myself just because of the injury history, but I would much rather have Lowe, Dempster or Burnett. And I know Burnett comes with an injury tag but he showed last year he was fully healthy and had a great year. A lineup of Hudson, Rasmus, Pujols, Holliday, Ludwick, Glaus, Molina, Pitcher and Izturis get me excited…or at least something to that effect. Again I would love to have Holliday if it is feasible and with the approx. 30 mil we have to play with is his 13+ worth it over Luds 3? I don’t think so. And with Boras as his agent he will prolly be looking for 15-20 range…I hightly doubt anyone on this team will make more then Pujols’s 16 mil and they shouldn’t. I also think there is something to say about taking someone out of Coors and seeing how they drop. Lud is already belting more then Holliday I say you run with him and give up the guy that is taking the spot of “the chosen one” named Rasmus :)

I’d love for the Cardinals to get Derek Lowe, but there’s 1 thing I see wrong with him, he’s 36. I don’t want to offer a 36 year old pitcher a long term contract, 2 years is all I’d go with him. That’s just me though. And your lineup was good Slata, but I’d rather switch Rasmus and Hudson in that situation there, because even though Hudson has been good at getting on base the last 2 years, he doesn’t walk a lot, and his career obp is much lower. And I’m just wanting a temporary 1 year replacement at the closer’s roll in order to give Motte and Perez more time to work on other pitches. And I think Burnett is going to sign with the Yankees, and Dempster is going to resign with the Cubs. And are you against the guy I mentioned as a lefty reliever?

Trust me I hear ya, I’m just saying I wouldn’t see Penny as an option maybe a small deal with a bunch of incentives to see if he is healthy but that is about it..and IF the Cubs get Peavy they prolly won’t resign Dempster and who knows how much money the Yanks will spend as it is almost certain that they will outbid anyone for Sabathia and maybe Texiera. But we all know they have unlimited resources so they may get Burnett too. I woudn’t break the bank for Lowe but a 2 year deal with an option for a 3rd I would be happy with. As far as the linup that is why I said ( or at least something to that effect) I looked at the first 2 spots as well to flip flop..again playing fantasy here since we actually don’t have all these players ha. As far as your lefty..I don’t have a problem with him I just have never heard of him and I guess if I’m looking at Motte and Perez two young guys at the end already I would want more of a proven veteran lefthander to help them out, thats all. Thoughts?

Who says they won’t re-sign Dempster, according to their site they’re looking for a starting rotation of Peavy, Zambrano, Dempster, Lilly, & Harden. Not many people have heard of him, it was his first year in the bigs, called up when the rosters expanded. I think since they want Kennedy we may be able to get him in return. He’s young. Reason I listed him is because he’d come cheap and if we sign Lowe & Hudson, it’d be nice to throw in someone cheap as well. And I’m okay with a veteran as long as we don’t overpay. I’m the type of guy who likes when the team developes talent, trades for cheap reliable players, gets free agents that are good for a reasonable price, and offering large amounts of money to only players like Pujols or Holliday.

Crazy…Why are you calling me out? I didn’t say anything offensive to anyone! And don’t worry about it anyways. I don’t read any of your posts anymore. I just skip it if it says pujols_05 or crazy_insanity….So there will be no more animosity between you and me.

I’m not trying to call you out, I would like to get your thoughts on the stuff that I say, but at the same time, I don’t want it to break out into argument, I like knowing peoples opinions and like to dispute in a friendly matter, but it seems that between me and you it usually turns into argument, and I’m trying to avoid that.

OK. I understand that. No worries, though. Like I said I usually skip over your comments. Mostly because I typically totally disagree with what you say, but also because I don’t wanna start a fight. I have a much different, and in my opinion, more realistic view of not only the team but the game in general. It’s not just you. I don’t want to argue with anyone.

To be quite honest I don’t care if the Cubs get both Peavy and keep Dempster. That will create many more holes for them and they already had the top rotation last year and look how far they got. It will cost them a boatload to get Peavy since they don’t have much of a minor leagues anymore with names such as Smardja (sp) Theriot, Marshall, Pie and so on. While I always want to beat the Cubs I don’t care what they do. I only care that the cards do everything they can do address their needs. It should be a very interesting offseason as if the “rumors” hold up there will be a lot of action.

Amen to that…zoop’s view is “dead-on-balls” accurate. I like the name Holliday would bring behind Pujols (which, let’s be real…TLR would end up hitting him #2 anyway)…but I’m not paying a guy Pujols-type money for six years just because he has a name. Although, it probably would have been a good move for Ludwick…can you imagine those line drive, ascending shots in Coors?

Holliday is good…but he’s not shown he’s good enough outside of Coors to warrant the money and years we would have to commit to keep him past next year.

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